‘Buy farmland and gold,’ advises Dr Doom – Times Online

Posted by Matt in February 27th, 2010 | no comment

The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.
The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign [...]

Land Rush in Africa – BusinessWeek

Posted by Matt in November 28th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Africa, Acreage, Agribusinesses, Agriculture, Arab Oil, Businessweek, Crops, Developing Countries, Farmland, Fascination, Fear, Goldman Sachs, Homelands, Investor, Land Rush, Latin-America, Morgan Stanley, Oil Countries, Sachs Gs, Tracts, Water Land

Farmland in developing countries has become an unlikely object of investor fascination. Goldman Sachs (GS), and Morgan Stanley (MS) are each raising hundreds of millions of dollars for agriculture funds aimed at Africa and Latin America. Agribusinesses in the U.S. are leasing vast tracts of African land from which they expect to export crops and [...]

Iran is sinking as groundwater resources disappear

Posted by Matt in September 24th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Iran, Water, Chunks, Compaction, Farmland, Groundwater, Groundwater Resources, Insatiable Demand, Iran, Soil, Study Estimates, Water Levels

Iran’s insatiable demand for water, which is being drawn out of aquifers far faster than it can be replenished, is causing large chunks of farmland to sink and buildings to crack, according to a new study.
Estimates suggest the water levels in Iranian aquifers have declined by an average of nearly 1.5 feet (half a [...]

China’s Disturbing Desert Creep

Posted by Matt in June 20th, 2008 | no comment

Published in China, 1950s, Array, China Beijing, China Meteorological Administration, Desert Storm, Desertification, Deserts, Economic Impact, Farmland, Fragile Ecosystem, Giant Stretch, Goats, Jaran, Manchurians, Meteorology, National Battlefield, Outpost, Precarious Balance, Sandstorms, Subsistence Crops, Tengger, Three Decades, Top Producer, Yellow Earth

Forest clearing to create more farmland has destroyed the precarious balance of a fragile ecosystem.
In the 1950s, the government built the Hongyashan reservoir on the Shiyang River and in the three decades that followed, residents dug more than 10,000 wells. The positive economic impact was immediate: Minqin County became the top producer of wheat and [...]

South Korea plans farm development in Sudan to aid starving North Koreans

Posted by Matt in June 5th, 2008 | no comment

Published in Koreas, Aides, Cooperation, Farmland, Food Aid, Food Crisis, Grain Storage Facilities, Lee Myung-Bak, North Koreans, North-Korea, Omar El Bashir, President Lee, South Korean President, South-Korea, Sudan, Sudanese President

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak hopes to develop farmland in Sudan as part of efforts to secure offshore grain resources to help North Korea cope with its worsening food crisis.
Meeting with visiting Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, Lee discussed the proposed cooperation, which includes building grain storage facilities, Lee’s aides said.
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